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Civil Celebrations Network Incorporated
A potted history
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The Civil Celebrations Network is evolving from the work of civil celebrants, originally civil marriage celebrants, in the celebrancy field in Australia.
The Civil Marriage Celebrant Program originally was community service based and appointments made on a needs basis.
Since 2003, the civil marriage celebrant program was changed in some fundamenatal ways. The current environment is based on a small business open market approach.
In this new era in celebrancy, celebrants still need to work together to promote a range of ceremonies for the common good.
Celebrations and ceremonies, especially those organised by a civil
celebrant, can bring people together from different walks of life –
different races, religions, cultures – to focus on their common
strengths and resources, whilst appreciating their differences.
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Convenor, Rona Goold, prepared a submission for the Human Rights Consultation.
See: Full copy of ACCN Discussion paper and link to Final Submission
In particular, it was recommended that there be a government supported program: |
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for Coming of Adulthood / Full Citizenship ceremonies for all Australians turning 18 year |
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a review and upgrade of informational materials supplied as part of the role of marriage celebrants to incorporate human rights principles |
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a broadening of the units available in the Certificate IV in Celebrancy to incorporate the above aspect |
| On the 8th October 2009, the Attorney-General announced the finalisation and presentation of National Human Rights Consultation Report to the Federal Government.
The full Report, its Summary, Recommendations and other Detailed Comments can be downloaded from National Human Rights Consultation Report website. These are the links from the Reports page for:
National Human Rights Consultation (HRC) Report [PDF 585KB]
Preliminaries, Foreword, Contents, Acknowledgements
Summary [PDF 174KB]
Recommendations [PDF 149KB]
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There are a number of the HRC recommendations that relate to the roles of civil celebrants in Australia.
Hence the Civil Celebrations Network would like to hear from celebrants who are
* interested in the 'human rights and responsibilities' aspects of celebrancy, and
* would like to dialogue about how these aspects of celebrants work may be more fully addressed by federal government.
These are the specific aspects (highlight in red) of the report considered specifically relevant to celebrants' roles: |
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Creating a human rights culture
Recommendation 1
The Committee recommends that education be the highest priority for improving and promoting human rights in Australia.
Recommendation 2
The Committee recommends as follows:
· that the Federal Government develop a national plan to implement a comprehensive framework, supported by specific programs, of education in human rights and responsibilities in schools, universities, the public sector and the community generally
· that human rights education be based on Australia’s international human rights obligations, as well as those that have been implemented domestically (whether in a Human Rights Act or otherwise), and the mechanisms for enforcement of those rights
· that the Federal Government publish a readily comprehensible list of Australian rights and responsibilities that can be translated into various community languages
· that any education and awareness campaign incorporate the experiences of Indigenous Australians—with a particular focus on recent and historical examples of human rights concerns
· that the Federal Government collaborate with non-government organisations and the private sector in developing and implementing its national plan for human rights education.
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Human rights in policy and legislation
Recommendation 4
The Committee recommends as follows:
· that the Federal Government conduct an audit of all federal legislation, policies and practices to determine their compliance with Australia’s international human rights obligations, regardless of whether a federal Human Rights Act is introduced. The government should then amend legislation, policies and practices as required, so that they become compliant
· that, in the conduct of the audit, the Federal Government give priority to the following areas:
– anti-discrimination legislation, policies and practices
– national security legislation, policies and practices
– immigration legislation, policies and practices
– policies and practices of Australian agencies that could result in Australians being denied their human rights when outside Australia’s jurisdiction.
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Human rights in practice
Recommendation 8
The Committee recommends as follows:
· that the Federal Government develop a whole-of-government framework for ensuring that human rights—based either on Australia’s international obligations or on a federal Human Rights Act, or both—are better integrated into public sector policy and legislative development, decision making, service delivery, and practice more generally
· that the Federal Government nominate a Minister responsible for implementation and oversight of the framework and for annual reporting to parliament on the operation of the framework.
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| These Recommendations may also be read on this Aska Celebrant website See Full List of Human Rights Consultation Recommendations. |
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